11
chadd17
7y

My Win10 bootloader ate grub so whenever I attempted to boot Debian, it would skip to Windows. So I reinstalled grub. Now Windows won't boot and the partition is locked in hybrid mode. :/

Comments
  • 0
    I just wanted to play Fallout occasionally... :(
    Never happens on my other computer
  • 0
    Also I'm bracing for the overwhelming slap of stupidity when I call their tech support and have to explain what Debian is >.<
  • 1
    > "...I reinstalled grub. Now Windows won't boot..."

    What's wrong with this? Sounds like Debian is working perfectly to me :D
  • 1
    @Gophyr lel. It is. But I can't get Fallout 3 to run on Wine. So...
  • 0
    Maybe you just wrote to a single ESP? In that case you gotta make another ESP and reinstall the windows bootloader.
  • 1
    @Natrocx I've tried win10 startup repair. It fails instantly.
  • 0
    Hybrid mode is unnecessary, even on a Mac. Modern Windows and Linux support EFI/GPT natively.
  • 0
    I'm referring to hybrid shutdown, where the hard drive is unusable, unrecoverable, and unfixable until the next biot, which now can't happen.
  • 0
    @chadd17 Can you boot off a Windows install USB/DVD and run chkdsk?
  • 0
    @d4ng3r0u5 I can. I'll let you know how that goes.
  • 0
    I have both Grub and the Windows bootloader on a single ESP on my machine. Doesn't the Bios give you a choice of which to boot? Also, you might like to try rEFInd instead of Grub for ease of use.
  • 0
    @CurtisMJ yes but on this machine, windows bootloader is now broken. What's the deal with rEFInd?
  • 0
    @d4ng3r0u5 chkdsk C:
    Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
  • 0
    ...which gave me the idea to try to use the file in cmd instead of bash, and tada! I can see my files. That'd be nice if I had anything to backup. Any way to fix boot from here?
  • 0
    @chadd17 rEFInd is an alternative boot manager. It's quite good at auto-detection is all. I was just thinking it might be able to boot Windows if installed from Debian, but if Windows is truly broken it might not help anyway.
    Edit: The rEFInd site has instructions on reinstalling the Windows bootloader
  • 0
    cmd --> C:/> DIR
    just fine
    Reset PC, keep files
    The drive is locked. Unlock and try again.
    If I knew my license key I'd just wipe and reinstall...
  • 0
    Boot Manager error message
  • 2
    @chadd17 if your laptop (?) is post-windows 8(.1), your license key is embedded in your bios, reinstalling win10 will automagically use the proper key
  • 0
    @Tobyvw if you are 100% sure, I'll do it, but attempting a reinstall so far has scared me off by prompting for a license key. Also this thing's warranty may still be good since I got it this week.
  • 1
    If it came with Windows 8 or later the key is most certainly embedded if you cannot find a sticker with a key.

    But of course. Reinstalling will probably remove the old files you saved there
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